Huge renewable green energy station planned for North Yorkshire would be 'blot on landscape'

However, councillors considering National Grid’s Scotland England Green Link 2 (SEGL2) scheme on Tuesday (August 8) will be told the 28.5m-high convertor station off New Road, Drax, should be approved as it is key to enabling the Government reach its legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The proposed convertor station would be sited on a platform measuring up to 200m by 250m.

North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee will hear the utilities firm is also seeking consent to install high voltage direct current underground cables from the River Ouse to the converter station and high voltage alternating current underground cables from the converter station to the existing Drax 400 kV Substation.

Cable installation and commissioning for the proposed route, which will include 1.5m-wide trenches, is scheduled to be completed by 2029.

In its application the firm has underlined while the open countryside application site, from east of Drax Power Station to the River Ouse, includes 34.6 hectares of largely agricultural land, only about five per cent of it is rated as top quality farmland.

The documents state the SEGL2 project is a major reinforcement of the electricity transmission system which will provide additional north-south transmission capacity to cope with huge volumes of renewable energy generation connecting to the system over the coming years.

They state the Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green IndustrialRevolution “fully recognises that in order to connect green energy generation, specifically offshore wind, the UK must undertake a significant transformation and reinforcement of its existing electricity transmission network”.

The application states: “Electricity demand is predominantly located in the south-east, necessitating the requirement to enable high north-south power flows.

“The primary objective of the project is to reinforce the electricity networkand increase transmission network capability between Scotland and northern England by 2029 in order to enable the efficient and economic transmission of electricity.”

The firm said while grid connections are being exhausted and renewable energy schemes are facing long wait times, projects such as SEGL2 that have secured connections are fundamental to achieving the net zero target.

Nevertheless, a planning officer’s report to the committee states the proposals do not sufficiently minimise likely significant adverse landscape and visual effects, nor do they provide sufficient new opportunities to better join up existing or create new green infrastructure.

The report states: “The site is considered to be overdeveloped with insufficient landscape mitigation and without clear justification.

“Significant adverse visual effects have been identified… particularly inrelation to Drax village and other nearby sensitive local receptors. There is alsopotential for significant cumulative visual effects because of the number and proximity of current major power and infrastructure applications centred around Drax Power Station and the connection to the Grid.

The report concludes while more could be done to mitigate the visual impact of the proposed development, there is a clear need for the scheme as the transmission of renewable energy across the country is seen as a significant part of the current strategy to meet net zero emissions.